Dana Abbott gives 'Big Easy Brides' that aisland sound

Hard to believe that a full season of “Big Easy Brides” has nearly come and gone. With the season finale of the French Quarter Wedding Chapel-set reality series scheduled to air at 9 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 9) on the digital We cable network, it’s appropriate to check in with one of the show’s cast members, musician Dana Abbott, for an exit interview.

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According to numbers provided by the network, the wacky-weddings reality series seems to have some traction with audiences, improving on the prime time average in the network’s core demographics of women ages 18-34 (up more than 50 percent) and women ages 18-49 (up nearly 25 percent), though no renewal order had been made at this column’s deadline.

The show’s appeal among those viewers is derived from the zany mixture of couples that find their way to Tony Talavera’s French Quarter address for offbeat betrothal services. (Some of the depicted weddings were walk-in ceremonies for locals, the networks says, while others were recruited via Craigslist and other means.)

Talavera’s staff, too, accounts for some viewer interest. A hard-working New Orleans musician by night – the Dana Abbott band played a Tipitina’s gig last week (Oct. 5), and has a regular Friday night slot at the Balcony Music Club – Abbott often serves the same deadpan role Jim Halpert fills on “The Office,” providing succinct commentary on the parade of loving couples and their sometimes-weird weddings.

“It’s pretty much just that crazy,” said Abbott in a recent interview. “You know how Bourbon Street is. A lot of out-of-towners want to play it up once they get down here, and break all the rules. It’s something to be part of and watch sometimes. Good god.

“Even in my regular social circles, I’m kind of known as being the straight-man.”

Which is not to say Abbott doesn’t take her work seriously. The chapel, she said, fills an important role for lovers looking to get hitched without going broke.

“It’s for people who want to save a few bucks, instead of going to a giant cathedral and having a grandiose ceremony,” she said. “The cool thing is, too, that the chapel actually accepts everybody. (Other marriage settings) don’t always accept unusual partners or whatever. At least they do accept people and celebrate that everybody’s different, and (service) people who like to fly their little freak flag.”

A Vermont native, Abbott moved to New Orleans two weeks before Hurricane Katrina. She landed her job at the chapel when Talavera spotted her singing on Bourbon Street.

“Basically, Tony saw me perform one day,” she said. “We got to talking and one thing led to another.”

The wedding-singer-and-player job provides her, she said, a musical outlet that expands on the repertoire she gets to explore with her band in clubs.

“We do get very specific requests,” she said. “I’ve had somebody ask for bounce music on a piano. That was a tricky one I had to try and figure out. It goes from everywhere from laser-beam sounds to Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.” It’s so different. And that’s what I love, love, love about it. It freshens my palette musically.”

Exposure on the show has also expanded Abbott’s profile locally.

“My band just played in Baton Rouge not too long ago,” she said. “We had a whole gaggle of girls screaming about ‘Big Easy Brides,’ which was pretty funny.”

She’s also begun to be recognized for her role on the show outside of musical settings.

“I was doing my laundry the other day and was looking as frumpy as I can be, of course,” she said. “That was the first time I was recognized. That’s how it goes, right?”

Dave Walker can be reached at dwalker@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3429. Read more TV coverage at nola.com/tv. Follow him at twitter.com/davewalkertp.